Having a small, sensitive pet like a hamster entails a huge responsibility. While taking care of them and meeting their needs, hamster owners should always give serious consideration to their piets’ dietary intake. Generally, hamsters are very prone to getting contaminated as they have such small, fragile bodies.
As a loving owner, you naturally want to feed your hamster with a variety of foods that you think your pet would enjoy. But oftentimes, many foods that we consider totally safe can be absolutely deadly for animals.
Many people wonder if bacon is a safe option for their pet hamsters? While bacon is a delicious and juicy feast for humans, is it actually appropriate for hamsters, even as an occasional snack? We will answer this below.
To get to our verdict, we will first look at the nutritional facts related to bacon.
Bacon Nutritional Information
Here’s what 100 grams of bacon contains:
Calories: 417
- Total Fat 40g
- Saturated Fat 13g
- Polyunsaturated Fat 6g
- Monounsaturated Fat 17g
- Trans Fat Regulation 0.1g
- Cholesterol 66mg
- Sodium 662mg
- Potassium 198mg
- Total Carbohydrate 1.3g
- Dietary Fiber 0g
- Sugar 0g
- Protein 13g
Is Bacon Safe for Hamsters?
As the information depicts, bacon is extremely high in fat, that too, saturated fat. Saturated fat is known to be very unhealthy even for humans as it raises cholesterol levels and increases the risk of heart diseases and strokes.
Hamsters have even less tolerance for such high-fat levels. It is always recommended by veterinarians and experts to avoid feeding them with fattening foods. And we all know that bacon is super greasy.
Furthermore, bacon is a type of salt-cured pork. And you must know that highly salted foods are completely off-limits for your pet hammy, too.
In hindsight, bacon contains two very unhealthy ingredients for hamsters; fat, and salt. With salty foods like bacon or olives it’s just not worth the risk. You should completely avoid feeding bacon to your pet at all costs. And bacon should not even be a special treat for them.
Meat Alternatives for Hamsters:
Now that we’ve ruled out bacon, you may be wondering if you can feed any other meat to your hamster.
Light meat such as chicken, fish, or shrimp is actually safe for hamsters. You must make sure that it is completely bland and unseasoned, though. It could be boiled or baked-however, do not add any salt to it.
When serving fish, make sure you’ve removed all the small bones.
Also, make sure that the amount of meat you serve to your hamster is of very minuscule size.
The meat types that you must avoid at all costs include red meat or venison. Any large bird meat such as turkey, goose, should probably not be given to your pet. You may be able to get away with a little, but it should not contain salt, and only be in moderation.
Remember that hamsters process meat very differently than we do. Hence, you must be very careful with the kind of meat you allow your hammy to eat.
We hope this guide was useful and you will now make a clear and safe decision regarding your pet hamsters’ diet.
